The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-03-31

Tor anything IN winch Ghefe was money,
and no proposition in which money was
involved was too daring for his considera-
tion. He was young and already twenty
times a millionaire. To his visitor he
seemed the very incarnation Of the hearty,
generous, slam-bang reclklessness Of the
Pacific coast. It would have surprised
him, no doubt, il he had suspected that
this spectacled, unpretentious looking for
eigner had made q complete inventory OF
his characteristics from merely seeing him
In the street and from hearing the rumor
of his daring maneuvers on the stock ex-
change.
ssWen,n Harkness remarked, ''f1re
away. I've got just fifteen minutes"
ssHalf an hour" said the German,
firmly.
s'Wen, fire away, man. Time at this
hour of the day is worth thousand dol
lars q minute"
*. bright. Then will be brief. My
nsme is Heinrich Wachtmeister. I was
two years ago tutor in chemistry al. the
university Of Utrecht. In that capacity
was led to make certain experiments
which resulted in my discovering what
thousands have sought for in vain--the
secret Of making gold. You open your
eyes, no doubt, in wonder. So did I. The
gold was found In my possession, together
with number of metallic plates and in
struments, which tho stupid officials con-
cluded were intended for counterfeiting.
They would not believe my story, OF
course, that made the gold. For coun-
terfeiting was accordingly tried and SEN
fenced to two years. imprisonment. I
have lust now served out my sentence"
stYou are jailbird, then. It's pity
you didn't stay longer"
sssWait q moment and you Will see."
DR.. Wachtmeister here entered upon
detailed explanation Of his chemical ex-
perimenm, declaring that gold had never
been proved to be an element, and that, II
it was compound, there was no reason
why it should not be made. Science had
solved many riddles in modern times
which to the past were insoluble. He
begged Mr. Hardness to grant him the
privilege Of proving to him and five OF his
friends, whom Mr.. Earkness should him
self appoint, thatsshis statements were
.rue.s He asked forno. salary or emolu-
mants, but only desired to associate Mr..
Harkness' renowned name with his own
in the ente. prise, ,rwhicn, ,in he carried it on
alone, would expose him to fresh difficult
ties with the law. There was such q ring
of sincerity and earnestness in bis speech
that the millionaire was more than hall
persuaded. he declared that he would
let him know in u week whether he could
grant his request, and instantly cabled to
Utrecht to ascertain whether the story re-
Listing to the imprisonment and trial Tor;
counterfeiting were true. He received
the next day cablegram corroborating
the story in all particulars. a second ap-
pointment was accordingly made, and the
test In the presence Of witnesses agreed
upon. Wachtmeister begged as a favor
that some of these might be scientific ex-
perts, whose Judgment had weight. This,
too, was readily conceded.
m
The momentous day at last arrived: In
Harkness' Office half dozen OF the
milnonaire's dependents were gathered,
all pledged to absolute Secrecy, on the
penalty sof losing their patrons favor.
Watchmeister arrived at the appointed
hour, carrying starch box under his arm
and followed by q boy who carried q small
blast furnace, about the size Of q plumbers
melting pot. .Ha was introduced to each
member .of thes company, among whom
theirs was on6 who had been induced to
personate the scientific expert. For Hark-
ness, who like most men Of his stamp, had
small faith in scientists, had concluded
that no such q one might readily steal the
secret (which he was now convinced was
well worth steahng), and he had, for this
reason, made, for the nonce, q professor
Of chemistry out Of one Of his clerks
namedTS Sawyer. sWatchmeister tmmedi-
/ ately engaged this gentleman in CONVERSE
tion; and measuredin an instant, the ex-
tent Of His scientific requirements.
The little introductory speech which he
made I have not the space to repeat; but
! it was very clever. -
.tNow, gentlemen" he said In con-
clusion, 1 must commit myself to your
honor: I beg OF you to examine carefully
the contents Of this box. You see that it
contains some black santi-a very COM
mon article, which is found in abundance
round about In the state. Here hold In
my hand a, small bottle Of sulphate Of iron.
,+-s ~ But, pardon mel came near
forgetting. merely wish to convince
you that my process Is above board
without suspicion Of fraud. You will not
REQUIRE Of me- that 7 shall explain 1t to
you"
i He thereupon stepped behind screen
and divested himself Of all his clothes,
which he handed out to the company, beg
ging them to make sure that they con-
tained no particle Of the noble metal One
by one his garments were returned to him;
then the furnace, the box and the bottles,
each after having been subjected to rigid
examination. It vras obvious that every
thing was fair and square. There was an
almost solemn silence In The room while
the alchemist labored behind the screen.
Every insignificant little sound was LIS.
tened to with excited interest. The crack
hing of flames was heard, synd the steady
blowing Of the little bellows; then at last
little cautious hammer blows, and before
thirty minutes had elapsed Wachtmeister
stepped forward holding large bar of
yellow gold In his hand. a chorus Of ex-
cited oaths and EXPLANATIONS greeted the
gleam Of the precious metal. Harkness
seized it eagerly, scratched it with his
nail, cut it, with his knife, and, having
satisfied himself that it was genuine,
passed it around until all had had chance
to examine it. The bar WIS then sent to
the assayersWiththe request that he re
turn his analysts at the earliest possible
moment. a banquet had been condition
ally arranged for the party in the evening,
and as soon as the assay was found to be
satisfactory Hhe bar being valued at
1,100, Mr.. Harkness and his guests re-
paired to fashionable hotel, where the
great event was appropriately celebrated.
The whole future o. humanity was revolu-
tionized and all social problems solved by
this discovery. Theconyersation and the
tcasts turned chiefly upon the necessity
Of limiting the production, 30 as not to
give too severe shock to the commercial
world
For three weeks Wachtmeister now la
bored steadily in 8. dingy little laboratory
which he had inlprovised in an empty
back room In the Hardness block. He
delivered to the millionaire from time to